All pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England are required to close at 22:00 BST to try and contain a surge of new coronavirus cases.

But videos on social media showed Saturday night street scenes in some UK cities, including an impromptu game of cricket in London.

The UK's PM Boris Johnson is holding a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee later to discuss what the new lockdown system and rules could look like.

Each of the four nations of the UK is in charge of its own lockdown restrictions - and it's expected that today's announcement from the PM is just for England.

It's now been confirmed that also attending the meeting will be Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers and the country's health minister.

NI's top team had also been due to meet on Thursday to discuss tightening lockdown rules - but it's thought that meeting could be brought forward.

It comes as 1,066 new cases were reported in NI on Sunday - its second-highest daily number of reported cases - with one further death.

Read the full story here. And to read what the coronavirus lockdown rules are in your area, that's here.

Australia's government says it is in talks with several nations about quarantine-free travel, but warns that Europe and the US will not be on the list.

The first agreement would be with New Zealand, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. Other nations that could follow suit are Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Pacific Island nations. Australia closed its borders in March, early into the pandemic.

To date, it has recorded 27,263 cases and 898 deaths. It has fared better than other nations but recently saw a second wave in the state of Victoria, forcing Melbourne and its surrounding areas into another lockdown. Infections have fallen dramatically since.

From Friday, New Zealanders will be able to travel to some Australian states - New South Wales, Canberra and the Northern Territory - without having to quarantine. But they will have to quarantine in a hotel upon their return home.

On Sunday, one person in a quarantine hotel in Auckland tested positive for the virus. Four cases were reported on Saturday, all imported. Australians are not yet allowed to travel to New Zealand.

Image source, EPA

The World Health Organisation and the NHS say getting a flu shot could help health services fight Covid-19 this winter.

Health experts are urging all pregnant women to take up the offer of a free flu vaccine as soon as possible to help protect themselves and their babies. Anyone working in maternity departments is being given the same message.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Royal College of Midwives say the vaccination is even more important this year because of Covid-19. Pregnancy can change the way the body responds to viral infections, and in rare cases, flu can have very serious consequences.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The problem with introducing the sort of restrictions that are being suggested to control the spread of the virus is that no-one is really sure whether they will really work.

Firstly, while the government’s advisers can track patterns in where infected individuals have been prior to being diagnosed, they cannot prove that they were actually infected in those places.

Secondly, there will be unintended consequences.

Close pubs and you may make the situation worse by driving people to mix more in private homes which are less "Covid-secure”.

It is point that has been made in recent days by Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese as well as others, as ministers weigh up their options.

Then there is the economic, social and emotional toll of closing down parts of a community.

These are decisions that will divide opinion and, what is more, it will be nigh on impossible to judge exactly what impact they will have had on the virus.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

There is a "higher risk" of contracting coronavirus associated with hospitality venues, the UK's culture secretary has said.

Oliver Dowden told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there were "challenges" linked with the hospitality industry, including "that you can't wear a mask when you're sat down and eating", "social interaction with people you don't normally meet" and "ventilation".

Dowden said the issue was something he had discussed with the government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

On the new lockdown restrictions for England, Dowden added: "We are taking reasonable and proportionate measures because we can see the risks coming down the line."

Earlier, the culture secretary told Sky News he hoped the virus could be under control after Christmas.

"If those measures are successful we hope to be able to take areas out of those high levels of restrictions," he said.

"The purpose of doing this is to ensure we get the virus under control so by the time that we get through to after Christmas we are in that position where it is under control.

"Indeed I hope it will be sooner than that."

Rob Cameron
BBC Prague Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has summoned a meeting of the country’s national security council this morning to discuss the resurgent wave of coronavirus cases, the highest per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe.

However, signals that the government could declare a full national lockdown appear to be receding, and instead officials will focus on trying to prevent people from mingling.

With the virus spreading so fast, officials had appeared to be softening up the public for a new lockdown. But now it seems there won’t be any tightening until Wednesday, and even then, it will be more like recalibrating existing measures. The ones in place already are certainly creative: shopping centres have been told to turn off their free Wi-Fi to dissuade teenagers from loitering.

But new ones mooted by the prime minister appear rather unconvincing. Pubs and restaurants already have to shut by 20:00; he’s now suggesting one solution might be to ban them from serving alcohol, to deter people gathering outside afterwards.

There’s also an open question on what to do about younger primary school pupils, who are pretty much the only ones still physically in class every morning.

There is a sense however that all of this is fiddling while Rome burns – the graphs showing daily new cases and hospitalisation are almost enough to induce vertigo.

The government says it can’t afford another long national shutdown – the people feel it’s only a matter of time.

Image source, Getty Images

Iran has hit half a million virus infections, with more than 3,800 new cases confirmed.

Fines are now being implemented in Tehran for those who ignore regulations including refusing to quarantine while sick and failing to wear a mask in public. Business can be given fines for not ensuring customers wear masks.

Meanwhile, the country's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi has tested positive for the virus.

A total of 28,544 people have died of Covid-19 in Iran.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

New coronavirus measures for England "are likely to be enacted on Wednesday", according to Liverpool's metro mayor Steve Rotherham.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We're told that the orders will be placed before Parliament today, there will be some debate tomorrow, but the orders are likely to be enacted on Wednesday and that's where the tiers will be announced."

As we mentioned earlier, the Liverpool City Region is expected to face the tightest restrictions under a new "three tier" system, which will classify regions as being on "medium", "high" or "very high" alert.

Rotherham said there was "no wiggle room" for the region in terms of what tier it will join, but he said local officials were discussing "discretionary areas" with the UK government.

He said they had "discussed around the possibility of restaurants being one of those discretionary areas".

Rotherham added that the new restrictions would "initially" last four weeks, before being reviewed.

BBC Breakfast

Liverpool "really needs assistance with controlling this virus", a leading scientist advising the UK government on coronavirus has said.

Calum Semple, professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Breakfast: "The last I heard we had over 600 cases per 100,000 [people], bed occupancy in the main hospital was over half of our beds are already filled with Covid, and we're not even into winter yet.

"I think it was 22 people ventilated on mechanical ventilators in our intensive care units.

"Already staff are feeling overburdened, emotionally wiped out [and have] a lot of psychological stress.

"And they're looking outside and thinking we're not even into winter yet."

Asked the specific science underpinning restrictions on hospitality, Prof Semple said: "Alcohol and people's behaviour are well known to be factors that result in relaxation of one's adherence to regulations, let's put it politely.

"And so I can understand why this move is happening."

Image source, Getty Images

In many areas under local lockdown in the UK, cases and hospital admissions have continued to soar. Does that mean restrictions don't work?

Following the national lockdown in the spring, Leicester became the first place to go into a local lockdown. Other cities, and whole regions, have followed. But so far, Leicester's lockdown is the only one to have come close to the strictness of the national policy.

Since Leicester, local lockdowns have multiplied. More than 15 million people - very roughly, a quarter of the UK population - have come under new curbs, in some form.

And it's become harder to see whether they are working or not.

• Read more here

BBC Breakfast

England areas facing the tightest new coronavirus restrictions will be able to exit from the curbs only after "getting the infection under control", the UK's Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has said.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Dowden said Prime Minister Boris Johnson would announce the "full detail" of the government's latest plan for Covid-19 measures, adding: "The proper way to do this is to put all the information out there at once."

But he said the "basic principle is that the country would be split into the three" tiers, adding that "the higher the levels of infection" an area had, "the higher the level of the category".

"The point of doing this now is to ensure we get the disease under control," he said.

Dowden added that MPs would vote on the new tier plan on Tuesday.

Image source, Getty Images

South Korea’s prime minister has lowered the country’s Covid-19 social distancing guidelines to the lowest level as case numbers drop.

Daily domestic case numbers have stayed around 50 despite fears of a spike after a recent harvest holiday week.

The country is now at Level 1 of its three-tier system.

Karaoke centres, gyms and buffets can now open, while crowds of almost a third capacity are permitted in stadiums.

Facemasks are still required in many public places.

And President Moon Jae-in said the government "will ensure that there will be no loophole, even for a moment, in antivirus measures for high-risk and multiuse facilities".

South Korea was one of the first countries to be hit by the pandemic, but is viewed as one of the world's coronavirus success stories for its management of the disease.

A total of 433 people have lost their lives to the virus.

Just as Europe was hoping it could put Covid to rest, the virus has risen again, with renewed venom. Case numbers have been rising and in their wake, hospital admissions too. Each country is trying to find the right combination of measures - local lockdowns, test-and-trace initiatives, economic support and public communication - to drive down numbers as winter approaches.

As the UK government prepares to unveil a range of new lockdown rules, BBC reporters from France, Germany and other European capitals explain how their countries are managing.

Image source, reu

BBC Breakfast

Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram has said discussions with UK government over the “fine detail” of the tighest new coronavirus restrictions in England went on "all night" and are still ongoing.

He said he expected more control of test and trace, but officials were still in discussion on exit strategy and financial support.

Rotheram added that he believed the government had not worked out "all of the detail" on "the milestones" for exiting the tightest restrictions.

Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News

Covid-19 spreads primarily through the air. Studies have shown that the virus can remain infectious in airborne particles for more than three hours. What's less certain is the degree to which it can spread via surfaces such as banknotes and touchscreens.

Previous studies have assessed its survivability on stainless steel and their results have varied wildly, ranging from between three and 14 days at room temperature.

The new study looked at how long the virus could survive on glass, paper and plastic notes as well as steel. They found that they could detect it after 28 days on all these surfaces at 20C - significantly longer than the earlier studies had indicated. The experiments were, however, carried out in virus friendly conditions - in a dark room with stable temperatures and humidity - so the virus may well not do so well in the real world.

Even so, these results highlight the need to wash hands as well as touchscreens regularly and to avoid touching one's face in order to minimise the risk of infection.

The virus responsible for Covid-19 can remain infectious on surfaces such as banknotes, phone screens and stainless steel for 28 days, researchers say.

The findings from Australia's national science agency suggest SARS-Cov-2 can survive for far longer than thought.

However, the experiment was conducted in the dark. UV light has already been shown to kill the virus.

Some experts have also thrown doubt on the actual threat posed by surface transmission in real life.

The coronavirus is mostly transmitted when people cough, sneeze or talk.

The Chinese city of Qingdao is testing its entire population of nine million people for Covid-19 over a period of five days.

It comes after a dozen cases were confirmed linked to a local hospital which treats imported patients.

China had in May tested the entire city of Wuhan - a population of 11 million and the epicentre of the global outbreak.

The country has largely brought the virus under control.

That's in stark contrast to other parts of the world where there are still high case numbers and lockdown restrictions of varying severity.

Coronavirus rules vary depending on whether you live in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Millions of people are also affected by extra local restrictions. Find out what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode here.

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New local lockdown rules for England are due to be announced later.

The Liverpool City Region is expected to face the tightest restrictions under a new "three tier" system, which will classify regions as being at a "medium," "high" or "very high" level of alert.

But Steve Rotheram, the city region's mayor, said "no deal has been agreed".

Talks between local leaders elsewhere in England and the government in Westminster continue.

More clarity on restrictions is expected later, with new curbs to be reviewed after a month.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee "to determine the final interventions".

He will then announce changes in the Commons, before speaking at a Downing Street press conference in the evening.

• Read more here